Love in Catalina Cove

by Brenda Jackson

  “Will do. Goodbye.”

  “Goodbye, Erin.”

  When he clicked off the phone he looked up at Trudy. “I’m leaving for lunch, Sheriff. Rosalyn will be handling things out front until I get back.”

  He nodded. “Taking a late lunch, aren’t you?” It was almost three.

  “Yes, but I’m getting my nails done so it works out fine. I’ll be back in an hour.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you in an hour.”

  When Trudy left he picked up the calendar on his desk and marked off the dates Jade would be in Texas. Now that he knew when his daughter would be gone, he could figure out when would be a good time to visit New York. Hopefully whatever dates worked for him would work for Vashti as well.

  He stood and walked over to the window and looked out. He couldn’t wait to see her again and had stopped resenting his inability to push her to the back of his mind or to not think of her at all. He’d begun accepting that there was a reason he’d been uniquely drawn to her the way he had. And she was also drawn to him, regardless of whether she wanted to be or not. They had acknowledged that attraction between them at Kaegan’s party. But even if she hadn’t boldly called him out on it, he had known. One of the reasons he’d quickly moved up the ranks in the FBI was his ability to read people. Body language was something he specialized in. People didn’t know just how telling it was. For Vashti it had been obvious in the eyes that looked at him and the tilt of her head when she did so. And he knew from the tightening of her lips that last day, the way her forehead had bunched and the way her hands had tightened on her steering wheel that she’d been mad at him and figured she had a reason to be so.

  At first, he had rebuffed her anger, thinking she had no right to get mad at him. They didn’t have a relationship. However, as the days went by he could understand her anger and felt she deserved an explanation, especially if he wanted to take their association to the next level. The first step was admitting to himself that he did.

  It could very well be something he wanted and she didn’t, but still he needed to know why he did. There had to be a reason that he was drawn to her in a way he’d never been drawn to another woman since Johanna. Other women had come on to him. Some he’d noticed before they’d noticed him, but other than a fleeting attraction, he had felt nothing. Definitely not the urge to get to know them better, take them out on dates and introduce them to his daughter. Definitely not the latter. That’s why he’d been so open to and accepting of the type of affair Leesa had proposed. He hadn’t wanted a relationship full of conjectures and wanted to take the guesswork out of it. He and Leesa had known what they wanted and what they hadn’t wanted. He’d had rules he didn’t intend to bend. So why was he so willing to break his rules now? Why was a woman he’d known only a few days enticing him to do so?

  He walked back to his desk and sat down. When he met with Vashti he intended to be honest and open about the extent of his affair with Leesa. If she couldn’t get beyond that then he knew he was wasting his time trying to get something going with her. His relationship with Leesa was something he refused to regret and if Vashti had a problem with what he did before meeting her, then he would move on.

  Then there was the issue of Jade. He’d mentioned he had a teenage daughter to her the night of Kaegan’s party. She asked a few questions, just the routine cursory questions and comments. He would have to make sure any woman he accepted in his life also accepted his daughter. He wouldn’t have it any other way since he would never put anyone before his daughter.

  For the first time since Johanna, he knew he could get real serious about a woman and he needed to make sure pursuing her was worth the effort. He picked up his cell phone to call her.

  * * *

  VASHTI SAT ON her rooftop patio and enjoyed the April breeze while thinking about her lunch meeting with Reid Lacroix. What he’d told her had been an emotional drainer and when she’d gotten home she’d gone straight to her bedroom, thrown herself on the bed and had a good cry.

  Julius had loved her. Now she knew the truth and appreciated Reid for keeping his word to Julius and telling her. If only she’d known. More than once she’d been tempted to reach out to Julius and make him look her in the eye and say he didn’t love her. But she never did. Now just like Reid thought he’d failed him, a part of her felt she’d failed Julius as well. And to think he’d become an alcoholic because of the decision to turn his back on her and the baby she carried.

  For years after leaving Catalina Cove she had hated him, regretted ever loving him and had called herself all kinds of fool for believing he’d loved her. That was probably why she’d fallen so quickly for Scott. Words of love, and more importantly commitment, had flowed easily from his lips and she’d believed he’d proven his love by asking her to marry him.

  However, even that was a lie. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that Scott only married her for the convenience of a cover-up. There was a possibility his boss had begun suspecting something was going on between Scott and his wife. She would not have put it past Scott to decide the best thing to do was to get married to deflect that suspicion. Now that Scott was divorced she wondered how that would play out with his boss. She sighed, deciding that was Scott’s problem and not hers.

  What was her problem was Julius’s father’s proposal. He wanted to make her his heir, which was an issue within itself. No doubt any other woman would jump at the chance to inherit the Lacroix billions, but she wasn’t one of them. Greed had never been a part of her makeup. She earned a living for herself.

  She wouldn’t lose sleep over Reid’s proposal, though. He was lonely, but felt certain that eventually he would get over it. Remarrying wasn’t outside the realm of possibility for him and if that were to happen, then he could leave everything to his new wife, his legitimate heir.

  What really concerned her was the suggestion he’d made about her moving back to Catalina Cove to reopen Shelby by the Sea. She stood and began pacing around her patio. He had certainly made the offer tempting. Even the low-interest loan. She would call Kaegan later tonight and verify what Reid had told her. As she continued pacing she decided to break down the pros and cons of it. The pros were that yes, she believed she could return the inn to the splendor it once held and make it one of the most sought-after bed-and-breakfasts in the cove. Bookings for weddings and honeymoons had always been full a year or two in advance.

  However, that was when her aunt had a full staff that consisted of a full-time cook, a receptionist, a maintenance crew, housekeeping, an accountant and several others who were needed to make the inn run successfully. And Vashti had managed that same type of staff while working for the Grand Nunes. Doing so again for the inn would be a piece of cake.

  Another pro was that it would be hers, so working her butt off to make it successful would be to her benefit. Unlike when she worked for Nunes, where all her hard work hadn’t helped her keep her job after ten years. Another pro was that her aunt would be proud of her and deep down Reid was right. It would have been something her aunt would have wanted her to do, although she hadn’t stipulated as such in her will.

  She stopped pacing and drew in a deep, slow breath to curtail the excitement she was beginning to feel. Okay, she would admit that the thought of owning her own business had its perks, but the main question she needed to ask herself was whether she really wanted to leave New York and move back to Catalina Cove after all these years.

  She loved New York. Loved the shopping and the Broadway plays. There was so much to do here. However, like she used to tell Bryce, it was a short flight from New Orleans so she could still enjoy those things. But then she also loved the area where she lived, especially her condo. It was costly but while working she could afford it. Without a job, paying for it would take a big chunk out of her savings. She would love to keep it as rental property if she decided to return to Louisiana. That might be a good idea just in cas
e things didn’t work out and she failed...

  No, she refused to think of failing. She’d never failed at anything. Except for love.

  She eased back down in her chair, accepting that as the truth. First Julius and then Scott. She had decided after Scott that she had no intentions of ever giving her heart to another man. Heartbreak was a killer and she refused to become a victim for a third time. Deep down a part of her wanted to brush off all the hurt and anger and live again. But this time in a different way. She was never one to engage in meaningless, casual affairs, but now she saw them as viable options to enjoying life again.

  She stood and was about to go inside when her cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID and felt the pull in her stomach.

  Picking up the phone from the table, she said, “Hello?”

  “Hi, Vashti.”

  The deep husky sound of his voice did things to her. Made her legs feel wobbly to the point she sat back down. If he could have this affect on her with the distance separating them, how would it be when they saw each other again? “Hello, Sawyer.”

  “How are you doing?”

  “I’m fine. What about you?”

  “Gearing up for the summer. Kids will be out of school soon. They will have way more time on their hands than they’ll know what to do with.”

  “I can imagine. I don’t envy you one bit.”

  “Well, the reason I’m calling is because I know the week I’d be able to visit New York. You can tell me what day will work for you. I know you work every day and I can do a Saturday if you prefer.”

  Now would be the perfect time to tell him she had changed her mind and he shouldn’t come but instead she was clicking on her phone’s calendar. “What dates will work for you?” No need to tell him any day would work for her since she didn’t have a job.

  “What about Friday, two weeks from now? I’d like to take you out to dinner and to a Broadway show.”

  It sounded like a date and it had been a while since she’d gone on one of those. Even before their divorce when she and Scott had separated, she hadn’t dated anyone. “That sounds nice.”

  “You decide where you want to go for dinner and what play you’d like to see and let me know. We can do dinner first.”

  She nodded. “Fine and I can meet you at the restaurant.”

  “Sorry, that won’t work for me.”

  Vashti lifted a brow. “Excuse me? What won’t work for you?”

  “For us to meet at the restaurant. I prefer picking you up from your home.”

  “Why?”

  “That’s just the way I do things.”

  It was on the tip of her tongue to say tough luck, because that wasn’t the way she did things.

  “Besides, we need to talk. Remember that stipulation?”

  Yes, she remembered it. “I thought we would discuss it over dinner.”

  “And I prefer that we get it out of the way before dinner.”

  She thought about that and decided maybe he was right. They should get it out of the way before dinner since there was a possibility, depending on what he said, she might not want to go out with him at all.

  “Alright, Sawyer. I will text you my address.” And just like that, she had a date.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  SAWYER GLANCED ACROSS the dinner table at Jade. She was quiet and had been all evening. That wasn’t like her. “Okay, Jade, what’s bothering you?”

  “I hate leaving you alone, Dad. I was just wondering what you’re going to do those two weeks without me.”

  He immediately thought of the trip he had planned to New York. “Don’t worry about your old man. I’ll think of something to do.”

  She began eating her food again or rather picking around at it. He knew okra and tomatoes and baked chicken were her favorite so that meant something else besides him being lonely while she was gone was on her mind. “Is there anything else we need to talk about, Jade?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “Not sure it’s something I have a right to ask you about.”

  Sawyer lifted a brow. This sounded serious, especially since his daughter knew she could always ask him about anything. “What is it? Go ahead and ask me.”

  She placed her fork down. “Do you have a girlfriend who lives in New Orleans?”

  Of all the things he figured she would ask him, that wasn’t it. He wondered how in the world she’d found out about Leesa. “What makes you think that I do?”

  She shrugged her shoulders again. “I overheard a group of girls talking in the locker room at school.”

  Girls’ locker room at school? Why would he be the topic of conversation among a bunch of teenage girls? “What were they saying?” he asked, while reaching for the pepper shaker to sprinkle pepper on his chicken.

  “They thought I had left already and they were saying the sheriff was hot.”

  “Hot?”

  “Yes, you know. Good to look at. Eye candy and all that. I didn’t need them to say it because I know my daddy is handsome.”

  He would think sixteen-year-old girls would be noticing boys their ages, not a man old enough to be their father. “Thanks, I guess. And what else was said?”

  Jade leaned closer toward the table. “Karen Libby is Rachel Libby’s niece. Well, she said her aunt wanted you as her boyfriend, but that you already had a girlfriend who lived in New Orleans. Do you, Dad? Do you have a girlfriend who lives in New Orleans?”

  First thing Sawyer wondered about was how in the hell Rachel knew his business. Then he knew his daughter deserved an answer but he had to choose his words carefully. Jade was no longer a child. She was a teenager, and to him there was a difference. They’d had in-depth discussions of the birds and the bees, even during times he hadn’t wanted to discuss it. But thanks to Leesa’s suggestions, he had discussed it with her so she would always feel comfortable coming to him about the topic anytime.

  “Yes, I was seeing someone in New Orleans.”

  Her eyes widened like she’d expected him to deny what that girl had said. “And you never told me?” she all but accused and he saw the hurt look that flared in her eyes.

  “The woman I was seeing wasn’t my girlfriend. She was just a friend.”

  “A friend?”

  “Yes. She and I met years ago when I first entered the Marines. She was already engaged to someone and I was single and dating around. We were friends. When I moved here I heard she was living in New Orleans and reached out to her on Facebook. I’d heard her husband had gotten killed in a car accident a few years ago and wanted to extend my condolences. Like me, she hadn’t started officially dating again and wasn’t ready to do so. We discovered we had a lot in common and decided to meet up for dinner and a movie every once in a while. She has a thirteen-year-old son who keeps her busy since he’s active in a lot of sports in school.”

  What he’d just told her was the truth. In the beginning he and Leesa had just met up for dinner and a movie. “Leesa is a nice person but not anyone I’d ever get serious about. Like I said, I just consider her a friend and vice versa.” He then picked up his glass to finish drinking his tea.

  “So the two of you are friends with benefits?”

  What the hell! Sawyer nearly choked on the liquid that went down his throat the wrong way. Jade had quickly gotten out of the chair to give him a hard whack on his back. He held up his hand to stop her from hitting him again. “Are you trying to kill me?” he asked, catching his breath and clearing his throat.

  “No. I thought you were choking.”

  “I wasn’t. I’m fine,” he said, seeing the stricken look of panic on her face. “Honestly, Jade. I’m fine,” he said, picking up his tea to take a small sip.

  When she went back to sit in her chair, he asked, “And just what do you know about friends with benefits, young lady?”

  She rolled her
eyes. “Daddy, pleeze. I am not a child.”

  He frowned. It was okay if he thought that, but she had no right to do so. “Just answer my question,” he said in a stern voice.

  “I read about it.”

  She’d read about friends with benefits? “When? How?”

  “Romance novels.”

  He was sure his mouth dropped open. “Romance novels?”

  “Yes.” And she picked up her fork to begin eating again.

  If she thought that was the end of it, then she was wrong. “What are you doing with romance novels?”

  “Reading them.”

  She was trying his patience and he wondered if it was intentional. “What time do you have to read romance novels and where are you getting them from?”

  Before she was picking around at her food, but now she was eating in earnest like she was starving. “I read a little every night before going to bed. You know, to clear my mind of math, science and all that stuff.”

  He hadn’t known that and as far as he was concerned “all that stuff” was the only thing she needed consuming her mind. He didn’t recall the last time he’d gone into her bedroom. She kept her room tidy and that was all that mattered. He’d had no reason to suspect she had romance novels somewhere in there. “You haven’t said just where these novels are coming from.”

  “Oh. We get them from Karen Libby. Her aunt Rachel reads them all the time. Then she passes them on to Karen. Karen brings us a big grocery bag full each month and we split them up. When we’re finished, we rotate them around.”

  “We? Who are we?”

  “Hmm, just me and four other girls. There are five of us in our reading club.”

  A reading club consisting of teenage girls reading romance novels? Now he’d heard everything. “Why do you feel the need to read those books? You aren’t even dating yet.”

  “I know but I will be. I guess you can say I’m curious about relationships. The romance novels show me how women should be treated.”